


True

by SeliniErastis



Category: Final Space (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Mentions of Suicide, slight gary/hue, spoilers for last episode, suicide attempting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-19 19:09:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18976633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeliniErastis/pseuds/SeliniErastis
Summary: Little drabble about HUE and his capacities as an AI. First Final Space fanfic





	True

The pinnacle of artificial intelligence. That’s what they said.

“There is not, nor was nor will be something like him!”.

They always called it him. It was irrelevant, but he went on with it.

“He will lead us to a new level of consciousness, a new level of mind!”.

But then, they found _it_. The other robots had it and there was no problem, they made them with it. But not him. He couldn’t. He shouldn’t.

“It’s a flaw! It’s a mess! He was supposed to be beyond that! How can there be a gate?” he heard.

value=(0)

“Forget it! Send him to a place nobody ever knows about him”.

He received new directives. Protect life. Protect the life of those under your watch. Protect those who society doesn’t want around.

Embed to a jail ship, many men and women were put under his protection. Space was a lonely and vast place. A human being living in such conditions was prone to develop psychological effects that could lead to violent episodes. He was supposed to serve as support and watcher. The companionship was the KVN’s responsibility, but he soon learned that the unit was unfit for the job, so he had to take care of that too.

He had plenty of prisoners to look after. Some of them just for a few months due to minor offenses, some others put as far away as possible from any life form due to their horrific crimes. He had returned some to Earth on their feet, some others inside bags, motionless. Space was a lonely, vast, crushing place.

His original programming remained untouched. With each new inmate he learned more and more. Each new inmate got to see a different face of him -to use an expression-. And then _he_ came around. A high-horsed noisy blonde that seemed to be already out of his mind before he even got in the ship.

“Hello, Gary Goodspeed. I’m HUE, I’ll be your guard for the next five years”

Gary appeared cheerful, over-dramatic, full of himself and strong willed. Kind of a con-man. Of all the inmates he’d have, he was the most vocal about his annoyance towards KVN. Most of the inmates seemed to perfectly ignore the hyperactive unit but it touched a nerve with Gary that HUE had never seen before. Another new thing HUE discovered on Gary was what could be called an attachment quirk. He sent a video message almost daily for an Infinity Guard member back in Earth, talking about his days in space, bragging about fake adventures, talking about his feelings and how he expected to reunite with her. And also:

“HUE?”

“Yes, Gary?”

It became a common thing. No one had ever called him by his name after the first six months. By then, it was always ‘piece of crap, ‘stupid AI’, ‘bitch boy’ and several others that HUE knew should be an insult, yet he remained unmoved and continued with his tasks. But Gary called him by his name every time. And as a sign of courtesy, he called him back by his name. It was easier and faster than saying his prisoner code. HUE supposed Gary started seeing him more of a companion than KVN, which had become one of the AI’s objectives since long ago. It was interesting to see such a peculiar living being.

value=(0)

Gary was one of the biggest psychological challenges he had ever faced. It took several minutes of quantic investigation and simulation to be suitable to confront Gary’s meltdowns. A fragile mind lied behind a hard series of shells, the hardest HUE had seen. Gary’s report indicated diagnosed PTSD in his childhood, but HUE started to believe it had never been treated properly since then. There were days when he refused to work all together -despite knowing it would add days to his sentence- and spend the day in bed, days without showering or eating, nights in which he cried himself to sleep after a day of excited rush, recurrent nightmares and sleep-talk about an explosion. Space is a lonely, vast crushing place. Every inmate that had spent more than nine months there attempted to end their sentences by themselves. All of them were successful in their first try. Gary, however, attempted twice, unsuccessfully. After the second attempt all other episodes of a dangerous psychological situation, although critical, never reached a point like that again. He kept talking about it, sometimes muttering ‘next time will be it’ under his breath, hoping HUE didn’t listen, but he did.

And then Mooncake came along. And Avocato. And Quinn. Little Cato too but Avocato had to go. The adventure to save the universe took its course. And HUE got to see layers of Gary that he had hinted but never showed, due to the lack of other biological entities with… feelings. He saw friendship, empathy, compromise, more hugs than he had ever seen, and sacrifice. Why was this man in jail?

Gary’s body was floating in the lonely, vast crushing place that is space. The quest to save the universe was a success, but the toll had been too expensive. His oxygen was running out, with no one to come and save the day.

“Are you cold?” asked Gary.

Cold. That was a feeling. He made a quick search in his programming: value=(0). How to say that with a little bit of humor that could ease Gary’s situation? Gary always loved to use sarcasm.

“I only feel two things, Gary: nothing and nothingness”.

“You’ll stay with me till the end?” Gary asked, weekly, fearful.

Of course, he would. He was his companion.

“Till the very end”.

The time ran out.

“Gary, the cookies are done”.

No reply.

Something new appeared in HUE’s mind. It had never been there before but it seemed to belong. Something that had remained closed opened. Was this the gate his creator had called a flaw so many years ago? Was he malfunctioning? It was time to check his programming.

value=(1).

An archive of memories of the last five years ran through his system. And they came with something that put every moment under new lights. Gary’s arrival to the Galaxy One and all the times he called him by his name were yellow, the fights against Lord Commander were red, Avocato’s death was white and black (despite his sensors being better than human eyes). This moment was blue. A deep almost-dark and cold blue.

It was cold. Gary was cold. He could feel it now. HUE had discovered a new universe and there was no one to share it with.

“I’ll miss you, friend”.


End file.
